Let&#39;s Have Church!  Home Edition

ABSTRACT

This present invention is a four or more player card game that accentuates the sub-culture of the Christian Church using conventional Bible references, in addition to national Church Surveys and Christian Church Clichés references. It is a two-team game, comprised of three rounds with the objective being to become the team to accumulate the highest number of points by the end of the final round.

BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION

The present invention relates generally to the field of card games. More specifically, the present invention relates to embodiments of Faith-based games for four or more players wherein points are earned by teammates successfully accomplishing various Christian Church relative feats, randomly selected by team captains.

For many years faith-based games have been developed to inspire and develop faith in the passages found in the Holy Bible (Old and New Testament). Due to the diverse nature of this compilation of books the subject focus for these games have varied dramatically. And while this is true, one constant amongst these games has been an overwhelming similitude to various derivatives of Bible Trivia. Usually the Holy Bible (Old and New Testament) is the primary reference.

This limitation poses a significant dilemma. In order to play these games one has to be Bible savvy, significantly reducing the number of participants who can truly benefit from this potentially inspirational method of entertainment. Even those who are Bible savvy are leery of being considered a Bible knowledge novice if they don't win.

SUMMARY OF INVENTION

What is needed is a method of play that incorporates Biblical questions and physical challenges, as well as subjective opinion based subject matter. This will create a method of play that is equally enjoyable to both Bible scholar and the Bible novice. And also provide a since of connectivity between separate denominations that share many common opinions and cliches. The present invention accomplishes this by incorporating Bible questions, national church survey questions, gospel recording artist questions, and common Christian church cliches into three unique rounds of game play.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF DRAWINGS

In the drawings, which illustrate what is currently considered to be the best mode for carrying out the invention:

FIG. 1A is a back view of a ‘Question Round’ playing card according to the present invention.

FIG. 1B is a front view of one of three types of standard ‘Question Round’ playing cards bearing a sample Gospel recording artist question, answer, and a 100-point value according to the present invention.

FIG. 1C is a front view of one of three types of standard ‘Question Round’ playing cards bearing a sample church survey question, answer, and a 200-point value according to the present invention.

FIG. 1D is a front view of one of three types of standard ‘Question Round’ playing cards bearing a sample Bible related question, answer, and a 300-point value according to the present invention.

FIG. 1E is a front view of a bonus ‘Question Round’, ‘Performance Round’, and ‘Final Round’ card bearing the phrase “Favor Ain't Fair” and a 500-point value according to the present invention.

FIG. 2A is a back view of a ‘Performance Round’ playing card according to the present invention.

FIG. 2B is a front view of one of three types of ‘Performance Round’ playing cards bearing a sample ‘SAY IT’ challenge and a 100-point value according to the present invention.

FIG. 2C is a front view of one of three types of ‘Performance Round’ playing cards bearing a sample ‘DRAW IT’ challenge and a 200-point value according to the present invention.

FIG. 2D is a front view of one of three types of ‘Performance Round’ playing cards bearing a sample ‘DO IT’ challenge and a 300-point value according to the present invention.

FIG. 3A is a back view of a ‘Final Round’ playing card according to the present invention.

FIG. 3B is a front view of one of two types of ‘Final Round’ playing cards bearing a sample cliche and a 300-point value according to the present invention.

FIG. 3C is a front view of one of two types of ‘Final Round’ playing cards bearing a sample Holy Bible (King James Version) quote and a 300-point value according to the present invention.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT

A set of cards and other supplemental components for game play according to this embodiment is prepared for playing a game accentuating several common opinions and sayings found in the Christian Church. The card set consists of 500 cards, that is, 120 standard Question Round Cards, 5 bonus Question Round Cards, 120 standard performance cards, 5 bonus Performance Rounds Cards, 245 standard Final Round Cards, and 5 bonus Final Round Cards. The supplemental components consisting of one 45-second/3-minute CD timer, two small dry erase boards, two dry erasers, and two black dry erase markers.

The game is comprised of three unique rounds of team versus team competition. The first round is a Question Round, the second round is a Performance Round, and the third round is a Final Round. A team is comprised of one team captain and at least one team member(s), where in the team captain give clues found on the face of the playing cards. Teams should be equal in number, or as close as possible. Teams earn points when they correctly guess the clues given by their team captain.

After both team captains have been selected, 7 ‘Questions Round Cards’ (see FIG. 1A-FIG. 1D), and 7 ‘Performance Rounds Cards’ (see FIG. 2A-FIG. 2D) are dealt to both team captains. Each team captain is also given a dry erase board, a dry erase marker, and a dry eraser for use during the Performance Round. The entire box of 250 Final Round Cards (see FIG. 3A-FIG. 3C) is then placed in between the two teams. The CD Timer should be loaded into a CD player with stand functions, also for use during the Performance Round.

During the Question Round each Team Captain will pull cards from his/her Question Round Deck and read the question and four answer choices to his/her team. Team members are then given the chance to collaborate to determine the correct answer. One team member will give the agreed upon answer. If the answer given is correct then that team will retain that Question Round Card gaining the point value found on the face of the card, and play would continues to the other team. If the answer given is incorrect then that Team Captain will discard that Question Round Card gaining no points, and play then continues to the other team. This round ends when both teams have played out all of their Question Round Cards.

During the Performance Round a Team Captain will play the first track on the CD timer, having 3-minutes to pull cards from his/her Performance Round Deck and perform a Bible phrase using the method found on the face of the card. If the card states ‘Say It’ as the method the Team Captain must get his/her team to guess that phrase without gesturing or drawing. If the card states ‘Draw It’ as the method the Team Captain must get his/her team to guess that phrase without gesturing or speaking. If the card states ‘Do It’ as the method the Team Captain must get his/her team to guess that phrase without drawing or speaking. As an example if the Team Captain pulls a Performance Card that states ‘WALK in the SPIRIT’ as the Bible phrase and ‘Say It’ as the method of performance he/she must talk out the clues to get his teammates to guess the capitalized words, “WALK” and “SPIRIT”. For every correctly guessed phrase during this period that team will retain that Performance Round Card gaining the point value found on the face of the card. If the answer given is incorrect then that Team Captain will discard that Performance Round Card gaining no points. During this round the opposing Team Captain may monitor to insure that the performing Team Captain does not gesture, speak, or draw out of turn. If they do then the performing Team Captain must discard that Performance Round Card gaining no points. After the full three minutes are expired, or when all Performance Rounds Cards have been played, play will then continue to the other team. This round ends when the second team's full three minutes have expired, or when all their Performance Rounds Cards have been played.

During the Final Round a Team Captain will play the second track on the CD timer, then having 45-seconds to pull cards from the box of 250 Final Round Cards quoting the phrase found there on. The team member(s) will then take turns (if more than one) distinguishing whether the phrase is a direct quote from the King James Version Bible or a Cliche. For every correctly guessed phrase during this period that team will retain that Final Round Card gaining the point value found on the face of the card. If the team member distinguishes incorrectly then that Team Captain will discard that Final Round Card gaining no points. After the full 45 seconds are expired play will then continue to the other team. This round ends when the second team's full 45 seconds have expired.

Included in the Question, Performance, and Final Round Card Decks are bonus cards indicating the phrase ‘Favor Ain't Fair’ on the face of the card (see FIG. 1E). If this card is pulled that team is granted the point value found on the face of the card and is exempt from answering a question in the Question Round, performing a challenge in the Performance Round, or distinguish a phrase in the Final Round.

At the end of the Final Round all points on the face of the cards earned (or granted) are tallied. The Team with the most points after all 3 rounds have been played to completion are the Let's Have Church Champions!! In the event of a tie game, the team with the most bonus cards will be declared the Champions. 

1. A method of playing a three round card game among two, two or more player teams, comprising the steps of: providing two face down seven card decks to each team, with a Final Round box of cards centrally located between the two teams; wherein the first said deck comprises a plurality of Question Round Cards (see FIG. 1A-FIG. 1D) having Bible related questions, church survey questions, or Gospel recording artist questions indicated thereon, which when answered correctly earn that team the point value found on the face of the selected card which can range in value from 100 to 300 points; each team selecting a team captain who then take turns pulling from their Question Round deck, earning points until all cards have been played, officially ending the Question Round.
 2. The method of playing the card game of claim 1, wherein the second said deck comprises a plurality of Performance Rounds Cards (see FIG. 2A-FIG. 2D) indicating directives to perform ‘say it’ challenges where in a team captain gives Bible phrase clues only speaking, ‘do it’ challenges where in a team captain gives Bible phrase clues without speaking, or ‘draw it’ challenges where in a team captain gives Bible phrase clues only drawing; each correctly guessed phrase earning that team the point value found on the face of the card which can range in value from 100 to 300 points; each team being given three minutes to guess all of the clues dealt in their stack of said Performance Rounds Cards, with the round ending at the close of the second team's three minute period.
 3. The method of playing the card game of claim 1, wherein each team captain is given forty-five seconds to pull Final Round Cards (see FIG. 3A-FIG. 3C) from the said Final Round Box which comprises a plurality of Final Round Cards having either phrases frequently quoted in the Christian church yet not found in the Bible or phrases directly quoted from the Bible indicated thereon; which when distinguished correctly earn that team 300 points each; with the round ending at the close of the second team's forty-five second period.
 4. The method of playing the card game of claim 1, wherein bonus Question Round Cards, bonus Performance Round Cards, and bonus Final Round Cards bearing the phrase ‘Favor Ain't Fair’ on the face of the card (see FIG. 1E) are randomly integrated amongst the respective card decks and may be randomly selected by the team captain during any of the said three rounds; each earning that team a bonus 500 points when pulled, also exempting that team from answering a question in the Question Round, performing a challenge in the Performance Round, or distinguish a phrase in the Final Round.
 5. The method of playing the card game of claim 1, wherein the said game is won by the team that accrues the highest number of points tallied from the face of the said Question Round Cards, the said Performance Rounds Cards, and the said Final Round Cards. 